John Elwood Shepherd
John Elwood Shepherd or just Elwood is the first member of Gamma Akutabi's group and a Powder Hunter. He is one of the protagonists of the manga series Zombiepowder.. Appearance Elwood is a short, skinny boy with short black hair. He changes his clothes throughout the manga, but often wears short sleeved shirts with a star on it. He also wore a light cap in the beginning o the story, but left it behind with his sister's grave. His body is shown to have numerous marks and scars on it in the first chapter, but they are not drawn again. History Blue Note arc The story starts showing Elwood in The Grey Ants, giving 500 nīts (the currency in Zombiepowder) to Mr. Kinqro. Mr. Kinqro then makes mention of his sister, causing him to stiffen. Afterwards, he ends up in the same bar as Gamma and hears him talk about the Rings of the Dead and the Zombie Powder. He "accidently" wrecks into Gamma as the many gunmen the bar point their guns at him and runs away, apologizing. This soon is shown to have been an act, as he stole Gamma's wallet in the process. After running a certain distance, he opens the wallet only to see that it was fake. Gamma then appears behind him, showing him the real one. Elwood tries to run, but Gamma stops him and gets him to make dinner for him. However, as the two leave the alley, one of the gang members sees the two. The two go to Elwood's home, seeing his sister up and cooking dinner. Elwood immediately starts to worry, telling her to go and rest. His sister asks for Gamma's name, though he fails to realize who he is after he answers. After eating, Gamma confronts him about his pickpocket ways, which causes Elwood to tell him about his sister, the gang and how they destroyed his shop. Gamma then yells at him, calling naive when he says he'll abandon the gang after he has enough money and points to his many scars. Elwood tells him off, saying that it's none of his business. Gamma leaves. After failing to get any sleep, he hears a voice yelling at him from outside the house. The wall promptly explodes, waking up his sister who begins to bombard him with questions. He tries to calm her down, but he fails, as Mr. Kinqro reveals that he was dealing with the Grey Ants Gang. Mr. Kinqro then rams him into a wall, showing him a picture of Gamma and asking about him. Elwood says he did't know about Gamma, but Mr. Kinqro doesn't believe him. As he was about to punch Elwood, his sister breaks a vase on his head, stopping him. She tells Elwood to run, but while talking Mr. Kinqro kills her, her arms still around Elwood. Mr. Kinqro taunts him about his sister and the reason he joined the gang, angering Elwood. Enraged by his sister's death, Elwood rushes up to Kinqro and begins throws knives at him. He uses one of the gang members to block the knives, before using the same body to knock Elwood to the ground. Pointing guns at Elwood's head, Kinqro asks about Gamma once more. Elwood tells him off, calling him a pig instead of a human. As Kinqro was about to shoot a foot lands in his face, knocking him away from Elwood. Gamma appears. Elwood watches Gamma beat Kinqro, only commenting on how scary he looked while fighting. After the fight, he burries his sister. Gamma comes and offers him a bag of money from the gang's base, but he declines. Elwood then asks to join Gamma and search for the Zombie Powder. Gamma tells him that if he follows, he'll kill him. Elwood then yells, saying that if so he'll beat Gamma, take his ring and finds the Zombie Powder on his own. Gamma smiles, liking his answer and telling Elwood to get ready. As Elwood was about to leave, he turns to his sisters grave, placing his hat on it and asking her to wait for him. Waltonville Arc While on a bus, Elwood asks Gamma why he wants the Rings of the Dead. He replies, saying that he wants to be immortal. Once off the bus, he gives an explanation of the rings, though Elwood doesn't understand a word. After handing him the keys, Gamma tells Elwood to go to the room, though he refuses. Gamma allows him to come along, brining him to a CD store, Class-6. The store owner calls Gamma into another room, without Elwood. He protests, but Gamma shuts down the protest. He gets mad, stomping off the hotel. As he is about to leave the store, a man yells out in pain. Concerned, Elwood rushes to him, asking what's wrong. The other man tells him the friend is injured and asks for help to bring him to his bike. They go around the back and as Elwood asks where are the bikes are, one of them draws a gun. They hold him, preparing to kill him to get back at Gamma. Elwood yells at him, denouncing his logic but the man simply calls him naive. As they were going to shoot, Gamma lands between them and slices the gunman in half. He then throws his sword into the other one before he could shoot Elwood. The man, scared, runs off before any more damage is done. Elwood tries to brush off the incident, but Gamma stops him. He warns Elwood about associating with him, going on about the dangers but Elwood interupts him by giving him one of their wallets. He says he won't quit and getting the wallets was easy, despite the situation. Gamma then steps on him, demanding his wallet back which Elwood stole too. Gridgeller Arc Once again, the arc starts on a bus. Gamma tells Elwood that there's a Ring of the Dead in this town. When Elwood asks how he knows, he says that his partner told him. Surprised, Elwood asks more about the partner but before he could get an answer, gunfire rains through the windows. Gunmen rush in through the broke windows, pointing guns at everyone on the bus. A man, Bacley enters, telling everyone to move their rings as they are serching for the Rings of the Dead. Gamma stands up, revealing himself to the group and telling them to hand over their rings. Elwood freaks out, wondering who's doing the robbing. The men pay no heed, stil trying. Gamma rushes up, kicking the man and yelling again. Elwood once again freaks out, scared of Gamma as he tells them to give up. A man with glasses suddenly appears, shooting Gamma. The two fight, with Bacley stopping the fight after capturing Elwood, holding him hostage. Gamma surrenders and Bacley figures he won't be needing Elwood anymore. As he was about to shoot Elwood, Gamma catches the bullet and threatens Bacley. The two are transported to a cell, Elwood complaining about being kicked in. He asks Gamma about the wound, but Gamma brushes it off. The glasses man appears about, commenting on Elwood's energy. A Fourth person appears and the glasses man gives him Gamma's ring. Only, Elwood noticed that he never took the ring and almost makes a comment. After finding out where the rings go, the glasses man shoots the fourth guy. He then points his gun at a shocked Elwood, asking him if he wants to die. He fires, blowing the bars of the cell away. It appears that he only shot the bars and handcuffs, and tells them to go. Gamma picks him up, moving already but Elwood is hesitant. The glasses man actually is Gamma's partner, C.T. Smith. Elwood at first doesn't believe, saying that they weren't holding back in their fight (which actually was true). The two simply said that they believed the other to be good enough, so they wouldn't need to hold back. Guards appear, with Gamma and C.T. handling them. Elwood bumps into one, but had his knives taken away from him so he is defenceless. C.T. easily saves him, not even looking to shoot the man. Elwood then realises that both Gamma and C.T. are monsters in combat. He spends most of the fight running and dodging bullets instead of fighting, thanking his 15 months of being a pickpocket for his skills. As they are about to head for the rings, Elwood hears a voice. Once he finds out about the stairs, he runs off, not even waiting for the others. He appears in the torture room, kicking a guard down before C.T. kills the rest. Elwood frees one of the girls, who runs off before he can even finish a sentence. She runs to her sister. Her sister passed out, so she cannot walk. Gamma volunteers to carry her after seeing the look on Elwood's face. As he picks the girl up, the first one jumps him with a sword. He blocks, the woman jumping back and saying that one hit is usually enough for someone carrying a person. Elwood yells at her, noticing the phrasing but Gamma says that they were strangers. The girl reveals herself to be Ranewater Calder, the leader of the Ash Daughter Gang, who is also male. She goes off on a rant, calling Elwood an idiot when he questions her about the girl. Gamma then punches her, telling her to get up and show her strength. She begs for forgiveness, saying it was a mistake but Gamma doesn't even consider her words. Elwood watches as they start to fight and says that they (he and C.T.) should go and help Gamma. C.T. declines, saying that he'll get mad if anyone gets in his way. He also says that he can't imagine Gamma losing. C.T. also tells Elwood that Ranewater called them kids, and causes Ranewater to say that the 'young boy' was actually an old man. This is relevant since Gamma doesn't fight wholly with women and children. Gamma, hearing this gets up and tells him to pray. The fight quickly changes, with Gamma taking the upper hand. When Gamma removes his shirt over his left should, Elwood asks about the tattoo which C.T. explains to him about Karinzanjutsu. He watches as Gamma kills Ranewater and snaps Gamma and C.T. out of their arguement after a bomb (which C.T. made) goes off. The girl on his back wakes up, hitting him as she asks questions. Gamma gives her a fast explanation, calling himself the Champion of Justice and says no questions, though she still asks about the other prisoners. Hearing this, Gamma races off to find the others. Elwood follows him as he bursts through the door and saves the people. The building was exploding however. Gamma uses a Karinzanjutsu technique, bringing everyone to the vault with the ring. He then beats the guards, opens the vault and gets the ring. Only for the vault to blow up as well, causing him to use another technique to save everyone. After the escape, Gamma walks away as the girl was thanking him. When Elwood asks him why, he simply says he was not used to being thanked. Elwood then proceeds to tease him about it. Powers & Equipment *'Keen Intelligence': Elwood is a skilled tactitian, as he cleverly defeats Pyromaniac Pownder. *'Skilled Pickpocket:' Elwood was a pickpocket for the Gray Ants Gang before he became a Powder Hunter. Because of this, Elwood is the most skilled thief in the series. Even Gamma has to always keep his eye on Elwood. *'Skilled Knife-thrower': Elwood has been trained by Kinqro in knive-throwing and has since then been improving his skills by practicing alone. He can throw knives at a great distance and hit three targets at the same time.Zombiepowder. manga; Chapter 15, page 6 B-side NAKED MONKEYS 2. Of all the characters so far, Elwood is the most levelheaded. He took care of his sick older sister, did the household chores and is almost better than necessary at managing money. (In other words, he's cheap.) He likes all kinds of food, wich is also something he is proud of. By the way, "Elwood" is the name of the president of an American record company. (Those that are familiar with CCM magazine might know him.) The name was so perfect for him that I just had to borrow it. The star mark on Elwood's clothes is the logo for a clothing maker called "Big Fat Star Jack" that specializes in inexpensive heavy-duty clothing. It's his favorite brand. Trivia *His theme song, as chosen by Tite Kubo, is Million Miles From Home by Keziah Jones. References Navigation Category:Zombiepowder. Characters Category:Main Characters